The fourth meeting of law-makers of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam focusing on the role of the National Assemblies (NA) in supporting the development triangle wrapped up in the central province of Nghe An on August 3.

In his closing speech, head of the Vietnamese National Assembly’s Committee for External Relations Tran Van Hang said the committees of foreign affairs of the three countries’ legislative bodies discussed the role of the NAs in supporting the development triangle, shared experiences and put forth measures for future cooperation activities, both bilaterally and multilaterally.

The three legislative bodies play an important role in helping each country’s government make policies for the development triangle with the aim of upholding the region’s socio-economic potential and maintaining security along the borderline of peace, friendship and development, he said.

The meeting issued a joint statement agreeing on a master plan on socio-economic development in the Vietnam-Laos-Cambodia development triangle to 2020.

Participants proposed the three countries accelerate the building and completion of a legal system on investment and business, policies relating to tax, customs and labour.

Administrative procedures relating to granting investment and business licences need to be strengthened to provide transparency and synchronisation from the central to grassroots levels, they said.

They added the governments of the three countries should give priorities to the investment in upgrading infrastructure, especially in transport, electricity, water, communications and irrigation works, and encourage economic sectors to invest in them.

Delegates also held that cooperation mechanisms between the three governments’ agencies as well as localities in the development triangle need to be maintained and strengthened to remove difficulties for enterprises and local people.

They also agreed on developing a drug-free environment in the region and supported the treatment of drug addicts with Vietnamese traditional medicine.

They proposed the establishment of a sub-committee in each country’s NA and an action plan for the supervision and support of the agreed policy implementation.

The fifth meeting of the Committees of Foreign Affairs of the NAs of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam will be held in Cambodia in 2013./.